For magic figure in LS, Modi wants BJP to go micro

Top BJP leaders on Sunday exhorted central and state office bearers to focus on booth-level activity and include all sections of society to ensure the party’s victory in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

The message was clear: get back to basics to defeat the Congress and aim at “Mission 272+” (to form a majority).

“All out effort should be made to take all sections of society with the party and strengthen organisation in the next 200 days,” said Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as he focused on his state’s efforts to include minorities in local bodies by giving them poll tickets. The idea: the BJP was including the minorities in a bottom-up manner.

BJP chief Rajnath Singh, meanwhile, disapproved of the Bihar unit naming Modi as PM candidate and said that a state unit passing such a resolution was a bit odd. Top party leaders will announce a name through proper channels, he added.

“The idea is that top leaders will announce the decision at the correct time, but the party rank and file in the states should concentrate on working from the grassroots,” the BJP leader said.

BJP patriarch LK Advani also endorsed what Modi said – referring to him two or three times in his speech – recalling how the Jana Sangh had posted a surprise victory in Delhi in 1960s because it went door-to door to reach the people.

Quoting an Oxford paper on India’s image taking a beating, Advani blamed the decline on the UPA saying it was the “most corrupt government” ever. “He spoke like a statesman and patriarch of the party and told everyone to work together,” party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said.

Continuing the attack on the UPA, Rajnath Singh attacked the Centre and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of mishandling the economy and the nation’s security. The PM has been unable to check the Rupee’s fall or manage galloping inflation, he said. “The decision to introduce capital control is a regressive method and will further hurt the economy,” Rajnath Singh added.